110 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
and sticks float immovably on the surface. Don’t you 
suppose the ducks know this? Of course they do. 
One of the cardinal teachings of their early education 
was to hunt out these places. It was an early lesson 
to them, and one they will never forget. It is more 
natural, then, that they should choose a place where 
they can leisurely feed, than to be carried along by a 
swift-flowing, turbulent stream. To get ata place of 
this kind it is almost always necessary to have a boat. 
Grant that you have a boat and a good dog, let me put 
you down in a place of this kind. You hide the boat, 
drawing it in among the trees out of sight, fill your 
pockets with shells and are ready for shooting. Look 
around and see how I have placed you. You are facing 
the south; behind you the trees stand closely together, 
their limbs forbidding shooting in that direction. And 
again, because the main body of the river flows there. 
and your dog would soon tire himself out. Take your 
stand in the blind I have made you, just on the verge 
of the shallow water. You think the blind isn’t high 
enough? Why, it is fully 45 feet. Your clothes are 
corduroy, nearly the color of the trees. The ducks 
won't see you unless you move, and you will have to 
stand anyway. So by merely bending your body a 
trifle, you are hid and simply have to straighten up 
when ready to shoot. You notice that open place just 
across the little pomt? I know you do, and are won- 
dering why I haven’t put you over there instead of 
here, for you think then you could shoot on all sides. 
That is true in one sense, but, were you there, the birds 
would come high over the timber and commence to 
lower their flight just as they were getting out of range. 
As the wind is with them, they always light up wind. 
